Breaking Down
by TwilighterMommy
Summary: This is the honeymoon from Edward's POV. Rated M for a reason, but  hopefully  tastefully done. The missing night! Canon EPOV
1. Chapter 1 Plans

**A/N: This is technically a continuation of my one shot from Edward's POV from Isle Esme (check it out if you haven't read it yet and let me know what you think!), but I'm uploading them separately because this will be rated M for lemons, but that chapter was easily T and I wanted more people to be able to read and enjoy it, even those that don't like the M stuff. So, here's the continuation of the honeymoon night – I hope you enjoy it! Also, I don't own any of the characters or universe – all copyright belongs to SM and no infringement is intended!**

Edward POV

"_Don't be afraid," her angel's voice was soft but distinct. "We belong together." I could hear her conviction in her tone and in the way she leaned into me. So trusting. I sighed softly, knowing once and for all that I would do my best to fulfill this promise._

"_Forever," I surrendered. And I pulled her agonizingly soft body against mine and drifted with her into deeper water._

I felt the moment when her feet could no longer touch the soft, sandy bottom. My shoulders were still easily above water and I all but purred as Bella drifted infinitesimally closer to me, wrapping her slender arms around my neck to keep her head easily above the surface. I held my breath as, for the first time, I felt Bella's body press against the entire length of mine with no barrier of clothing between us. She was so unbearably warm and soft, her every curve molding itself to my marble hard form. My arms wound around her torso, settling in the small of her back to hold her gently to me. I could just feel the barest hint of the curve of the top of her bottom against my forearm and my hands clenched into fists as I resisted the urge to fill my palms with that tempting flesh and crush her to me.

_Gently. Slowly. Control._

A hiss slowly escaped my lips as I chanted the reminder to myself. Bella's eyes dropped from mine to my mouth then as she heard the sound. Her lashes hid her eyes now, but I watched as her tongue darted out to wet her lips and I heard her heart pause then restart in a loud, slow pounding rhythm. I leaned in and pressed my lips to hers, just as I had a million times before, but this could have been the first time. The kiss instantaneously ignited every millimeter of skin that was in contact with her satiny smooth skin. I felt her gasp a bare fraction of a second before her hands were grasping the hair at the nape of my neck, twisting it in her tiny fists to hold me to her. Then without any further warning her legs were wrapped around my midsection as she did everything in her power to get as close as humanly possible to me.

My eyes flew open and I froze as I ruthlessly locked every muscle into place. I clamped my teeth together and locked my jaw as I immediately stopped breathing. It reminded me forcefully of that first kiss. Only this time, it wasn't the monster of bloodlust that was straining to break free of its chains. It was pure, unadulterated lust of an entirely different kind. My senses are capable of seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, smelling a thousand things at once without even needing my full concentration. In the normal order of things this onslaught of sensation that would cripple a human's capacity for understanding barely registers in my mind.

Until now. Because suddenly it was all gone. As if someone had flipped a switch and turned off all my vampiric senses, I was blind. I was deaf. All I could feel was the searing heat that was currently pressed just below my navel. The core of Bella's heat and desire, which was open and so achingly welcoming was currently pressed up against my granite skin and I had never felt anything so glorious in all my years of existence.

I was completely and utterly lost in that singular sensation, and that was very dangerous indeed. Dimly I became aware that Bella had stopped kissing me and was holding nearly as still as I was. I blinked to try and bring her face back into focus and saw that she was blushing and biting her lip in chagrin.

"Oops," she whispered and her lips began to tremble with suppressed laughter. She started to shift away from me and I instinctively tightened my hold unable to bear the thought of having her move out of my reach. Mercifully she let her legs float back down to their original, more traditional and infinitely less enjoyable position.

"No," I said and immediately grimaced. My voice sounded all wrong. Hoarse. Embarrassing. I half smiled at her and continued, "You are unbelievable. I wonder if you'll continue to take me by surprise for the rest of eternity." Dear God, I hoped so. A smile broke across her face that was exactly like watching the sun dawn across a fantastically beautiful landscape.

"Hmm," she all but purred, "does that mean it's…_bearable?_" I laughed with her as we both remembered my words after our very first kiss.

"Yes, I suppose it is," I said after taking a moment to pretend to consider it seriously. "Bella," I breathed as I leaned in to inhale her scent just under her jaw line, rubbing my nose down the column of her neck and placed a kiss on her shoulder.

"Mmmmm," was her only verbal response. The things that one syllable did to me! I squeezed my eyes tightly closed and forced myself to straighten away from her warm and tempting skin.

"If this is going to work, we're going to have to take things slowly." Her eyelids fluttered open as she worked to focus on what I was saying. I let my hands, which had been anchored at the delectable curve of her waist, slide slowly up her torso, gliding to her back a bare centimeter before they would have brushed the sides of her breasts and ending on her shoulders with one cupping the back of her neck.

She lost the fight against her eyelids then as they slid closed again, anticipating my kiss. I was more than willing to oblige and sighed when our lips made contact. After no more than a minute, though I started floating the two of us back towards the shore. We quickly reached the point where Bella's feet once again could touch the sandy bottom and I ended our kiss so that I could finish my thought.

"Slowly, Bella. We have all night and…" I hesitated, not sure how to phrase what I needed to say and acknowledging that I was feeling a bit shy about saying the words aloud, "and if I'm going to be able to control myself, then I'm going to need your help."

Bella's eyes were solemn as she regarded me for a long moment, considering my words. "I trust you, you know. I meant what I said earlier, we _do_ belong together. I will do whatever you need to make this perfect. For both of us. I want," she bit her lip again and her eyes slid away from my face for a moment before coming back determinedly, "I want this to be everything you've dreamed of. I have a lot to live up to, you know," she continued with a wry little smile.

My eyebrows drew together as I considered her words. After a moment, I shook my head baffled. "I don't know what you mean," I admitted. Would her mind never cease to be a frustrating mystery to me?

Bella laughed a soft, self-deprecating laugh that allowed some of her nerves to show. "You've waited over a hundred years for this! No pressure, right? Not to mention you've probably heard more in the thoughts of Emmet alone than I've ever even had a chance to learn about, um, about _sex_. Let alone the thoughts of every other person on the planet for the past century! And I'm just… well, I'm just _me_ after all and –" I interrupted her flow of words when it became clear that she was working herself up to an anxiety attack.

"You're right," I said. The air whooshed out of her lungs at my words and her eyes widened. I smiled at her, truly amused that she continued to doubt the hold she had on me. I shook my head, exasperated. "Bella, even with living through more adolescent male fantasies in more high schools than I care to remember over the years, more, living with Emmet and Rosalie," I gave a theatrical shudder and was rewarded with a small smile, "even with all of that, I have never even considered making love with anyone until you. Not another human, not another vampire. No one but you, Isabella Cullen. My wife. My love. It is precisely because of how very desirable and irresistible I find you that I am terrified that I will forget myself and end up hurting you." My eyes begged her to understand this very real possibility.

"Slow sounds good," Bella said with a smile that would have brought me to my knees if I didn't know that I was holding her above water at the moment. "So, are we going to stand here all night talking about it?"

I let out a reluctant chuckle at her successful attempt to break me out of my own pending anxiety attack. "No, I have other plans for us this evening, actually," I admitted in what she called my _dazzling _voice. Her heart immediately kicked back into double time. I grinned at her as I reached out with a movement that would be too fast for her eyes to follow and lifted her into my arms. I was kissing her even as I walked just faster than human speed back to the house.

Oh, yes, I had plans.

**A/N: Well, hope you all enjoyed it. If there's any interest I'll continue the story. I really would love to hear what you think so far. Do you think I have a decent handle on Edward's character? Anything I missed or was way off the mark? Hate it? Let me know and I'll start to work on the next installment if anyone is interested enough in what Edward's "plans" are! **


	2. Chapter 2  Best Laid

**A/N: Thanks for sticking with me! It may seem like there's a lot of internal dialoguing going on in this story, but…well…it's Edward. He tends to wallow. And dwell. And overthink. But, that tendency toward slow attention to detail will pay off when he puts his attention to more interesting things. Ahem. If you know what I mean. ;) Again, I own nothing the characters and universe belong to the amazing Stephenie Meyer! Now, on with the show…**

_Oh, yes, I had plans._

Before Bella's heart had fully beaten twice I was through the door that led back into the bedroom. My bare feet slid silently over the threshold and I rejoiced internally again at the symbolism of that simple action. I lowered Bella's legs until her feet were touching the floor and I pulled back from her lips long enough to murmur, "I'm just going have a quick shower to rinse the salt and sand off. I know you just took a shower, but-"

"NO," Bella blurted, immediately blushing. "Um, I mean, no. That's ok. I'll, er, come. With you. I'll come with you. In the shower, I mean." Her blush just kept getting deeper and I grinned as I let her continue, enjoying watching the blood swirl and pool in her cheeks far too much. I watched her close her eyes in mortification as each new phrase came out as an unintentional double entendre. She really was adorable.

"Okay," I said, more to stop the flow of words that she seemed to have lost all capability of controlling. I picked up her left hand and kissed her fingertips one by one and finally pressed a fervent kiss on her wedding band and then linked my fingers through hers to pull her towards the master bath suite. "Wait," I said suddenly as I turned the shower on. "I'll be right back." I raced out of the room and did a quick run through the house scooping up every decorative candle I can put my hands on, snagging a book of matches from the drawer in the table in the front hall. I was back before Bella had taken so much as a step. I avoided looking at her as I placed the candles along the vanity, the window ledge, and the edge of the deep sunken tub. I flipped the electric lights off as I struck a match and lit them. I can see perfectly well in the dark, but there has never been anything as beautiful as seeing the glow of Bella's skin in candlelight, and I've dreamed of seeing every inch of that skin illuminated that way.

I blew the match out as the last wick caught and slowly turned to get my first full look at Bella. I had deliberately avoided seeing all of her while we were outside, wanting to heighten the anticipation. I wanted this first full image to be in candlelight and I knew immediately that I was right to wait. She was stunning. My eyes took in her face as she stared back at me, watching me and taking in my reaction to her nude form. There was no trace of embarrassment now with the small smile playing around her mouth. That tempting mouth with the bottom lip just a fraction fuller than the top. My eyes continued down the column of her neck where I could see the pulse of her blood just underneath her alabaster skin. The dueling monsters – blood lust and just plain lust - both rattled their chains then and a growl built deep in my chest, aching to escape. I didn't even know anymore which monster was growling so I took a fraction of a second to tighten the chains on both.

I finally allowed my eyes to continue their descent and when I first saw her breasts I released a breath that I had no idea I had been holding. A shocking bolt of desire speared through me like electricity. I heard her tiny gasp and my eyes snapped back to her face.

I saw then what she was looking at and understood immediately what would have caused her alarm. "It's okay, Bella. I," I cleared my throat because my voice sounded strangled to my own ears, "I just can't believe how beautiful you are. The sight of you standing there looking like a goddess, well, I can't help that my body responds to you. In every way. From that very first moment my responses to you have been…intense," I finished with a dry note of humor. I really didn't want to frighten her, though, so I smiled crookedly at her and waved to the shower. "After you?"

Bella paused for a moment – just long enough for me to wonder if it hadn't been alarm that made her gasp at all. Bella bobbed her head once in acknowledgement of my invitation and stepped quickly underneath the hot spray. I just stood there for a moment staring at her, struck anew with awe that this creature was mine. She chose _me_. All the months of frustration, of toeing the line of propriety, first by my insistence, then by hers, were over now. I let my eyes follow the path of a single water droplet as it cascaded down her body, hugging every delectable curve and I was nearly undone.

_Get a grip, Cullen. _

Bella glanced at me then, over her shoulder, her eyebrow quirking up in question. "Aren't you coming in, too," she asked. Honestly, I've spent so much of my existence – decades really – denying myself that I realized with a sudden flash of clarity that I didn't have the first idea how to…_not._ To allow myself to do what I most desired was overwhelming, heady, exhilarating and terrifying. I moved forward slowly and joined her in the spacious shower stall. I let the hot water warm my skin which had begun to cool again from being out of the warm tropic water for several minutes. "Bella," I began, "there's something I want to do. Have wanted to do, really, for so long." Right, there's the understatement of the year. I have approximately seven hundred and twelve things that I've wanted to do that I could think of off the top of my head. "But, remember that you promised to tell me if there's _anything-"_

"Edward," she sounded breathless and exasperated. "I promised I would tell you if you do anything to hurt me. Right now, if you _don't_ touch me I might just die from frustration. And, I promise you, it won't be pretty."

And with that I leaned down and kissed her throat right where it was connected to her shoulder. I swept her wet hair back and wound it twice around my hand so that it was in my fist and exerted the tiniest amount of pressure, just enough that her head fell easily to the side. Then I proceeded to follow the path of that water droplet that had captured my attention earlier. Over her shoulder and down one arm. I stopped to inhale the scent at her wrist before making my way back up the vulnerable underside of her arm and across her collarbone to the base of her throat.

So far I was in familiar territory. This wasn't anything I hadn't done before, really. Though, the addition of the hot water from the shower was making the scent of freesia exponentially more potent. I paused there for just the barest moment, to acknowledge the line I was about the cross. Then I sank slowly to my knees while kissing a trail down her collarbone and into the valley between her breasts. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. Amazing! I could detect a new layer of her scent here. Still Bella, but with a new note of something else. _What was that?_ Something floral, but just a bit spicy. Heaven.

My hands came up and skimmed over the flare of her hips continuing up until they came to rest in the dip of her waist, my thumbs brushing over the flat plane of her abdomen. I felt the muscles there clench in response to my touch and this time it was I who let out an involuntary gasp. I turned my head just slightly and let my tongue trace the swell of her breast until I finally found the rosy tip and circled it twice, rejoicing as it puckered in response, seeming to try to reach out to be closer to me. Very carefully I rolled my lips inward to cover my razor sharp teeth and then sucked gently to bring her straining nipple into my mouth.

A part of me noted that her tiny fists had somehow made their way to the back of my head and they were clenching and unclenching handfuls of my hair. I darted a glance up to her face to make sure that she wasn't trying to pull me away from her and the look on her face made the muscles in my own abdomen constrict in response. Her eyes were open only by millimeters and her mouth was open as she watched my mouth move over her. Her head was lolling forward as if she had suddenly found it too heavy to hold up any longer.

My head snapped back as I felt the monster slip his chains at the sight of Bella's sensual abandon and a groan escaped my lips sounding unnaturally loud as it echoed off the tile walls. My God, I had to find my control again or I was going to make a mistake. She could be hurt. Or, equally likely and a thousand times more humiliating, I was going to end up climaxing right here on the floor of the shower from just the sight of Bella's face as I kissed her breasts.

I stood up suddenly and reached behind Bella to turn the water off with a quick twist. Bella blinked at the sudden movement and looked bewildered. "You are too desirable for your own good," I growled at her. "And unless we want our wedding night to take place on the tile floor of this shower, I think we'd better get out now."

"Oh," was Bella's response and she bit her lip. I turned and reached for a couple of towels to hide my grin. I handed an enormous, fluffy, white towel to Bella before using another to hurriedly dry myself. At least I'd gotten all the sand off my feet. I had to imagine that sand in the sheets wouldn't be comfortable for Bella.

We were both dry in record time and avoided looking at each other in our haste and our desire to not get sidetracked again before we made it to the bedroom. I grabbed two of the larger candles and moved them to the bedside tables while Bella blew the rest out. I turned when I heard her come in the room and saw her eyes darken as she raked them over my body.

For the first time in over eighty years I understood the human inclination to fidget. As always, it was her reactions to me that would be my undoing. I needed to get myself back on even footing. I recalled my pledge to myself earlier that I make this night about Bella and granting her wish for human fulfillment. I _must_ keep my focus and maintain that focus on Bella's pleasure. I wanted this night to be perfect. For her. I filled my lungs with air that was saturated with her scent – a scent that suddenly had a new element to it. A tangy edge that I pinpointed as her human body's response to desire and another small groan came unbidden to my throat.

"Edward?" Bella asked in a voice that was barely a whisper. I took a carefully measured step toward her.

"Yes, love?"

"I think I'd like a turn."

"Turn?"

"Yeah. There are a few things that _I've _been wanting to do, too."

_Oh, shit._

**A/N: I know some of you may be frustrated by the slow pace, but I really think that's how it would have gone down. And, really, it's just so delicious to write it that way. I apologize for any continuity or other errors, I don't have a Beta (hint, hint) so I'm doing my best to edit my own work here. So, PLEASE review. Tell me what you think, suggestions, constructive criticism is always welcome. **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I'm glad this story has gotten a few more readers! I'm sorry this update took a little longer than the first, but I'm still under a week, so I feel pretty good about it. I know all this slow build up is killing everyone…but, hey, it's Edward, you know? Anyway, again, I have no Beta for this story so if I've missed some continuity or other editing flaws, I ask for your understanding. It's always hard to edit your own work, you know? Ok, so on the with show!**

"_Edward?" Bella asked in a voice that was barely a whisper. I took a carefully measured step toward her._

"_Yes, love?"_

"_I think I'd like a turn."_

"_Turn?"_

"_Yeah. There are a few things that I've been wanting to do, too."_

_Oh, shit._

I swallowed and just barely managed to keep the expletive from becoming audible. I was usually very good about not using offensive language in the presence of a lady, but nearly a century of unwilling eavesdropping on all of humanity (particularly high school males) means I've pretty much heard it all. Adolescent humans never ceased to shock me with the amount of lurid detail present in their fantasies. Not to mention the frequency. And the volume. Over the years I had often wondered how any of them manage to graduate at all with the amount of time their attention was devoted to sexual fantasies. I had honestly never understood how it could be so unendingly fascinating to them.

Until Bella. Since the day I realized I loved her – loved her even more than I wanted to kill her – I had been plagued with thoughts of loving her in the physical sense. It didn't help that she was only too willing to indulge any physical intimacy I was willing to risk. To push for more, even. I was extremely careful to never give the barest hint of the things I had fantasized about, sure that I would finally succeed with my depravity where my vampiric nature had failed in sending her running screaming from me.

But, now I could almost believe that I was having one of those fantasies. Bella, gloriously nude, was walking slowly but purposefully towards me. I was only convinced that this was reality because the perfection of her body in the glow of candlelight mixed with moonlight streaming through the open patio doors far surpassed even my most detailed imaginings. I became completely still, not even breathing for fear of breaking whatever magic spell had been cast to bring this moment into reality.

Bella continued walking until she stood in front of me with five eighths of an inch separating our two bodies. I felt the waves of heat washing over me with every pounding pulse of her blood. I started counting those beats in the hopes that it would help me maintain my very tenuous grip on sanity. Bella's hands suddenly swept up my arms coming to land feather light on my shoulders as she reached up to place her lips on mine. She kissed me, brushing her lips from one corner of my mouth to the other and back again, all the while maintaining that same maddening distance between our bodies. Then her mouth trailed kisses, lighter than the brush of a butterfly's wings, along my jaw line to one ear. Suddenly the sound of her breath was amplified a hundred times as she breathed in my ear and my eyelids fell closed as a groan escaped my lips at the sound. Her breathing was faster than normal and my mind conjured up at least a dozen reasons for the phenomenon, each more prurient than the last.

My arms flexed as I instinctively reached up, planning to crush her body to me to end the torment, but I stopped myself as my hands were halfway to her remembering that a move like that would crush her in the literal sense. I struggled to reign in the urge and managed to cup the back of her neck with less pressure than it would take to pop a soap bubble, allowing my thumb to graze her cheek back and forth, reveling in its softness.

"_Bella_," I begged and felt her cheek lift as she smiled. Then in a move that was agonizingly slow, even for Bella's human speed, her arms flexed around my shoulders, pulling herself closer to me. And finally, after what seemed an eternity, the full length of our bodies were pressed skin to skin. To feel her soft curves covered by nothing more than her even softer skin was indescribable. I could feel the heat of her body, thrumming with life, sending electric impulses sizzling over and through me. I shuddered once and then brought her lips back to mine for another long kiss. After several minutes I became distantly aware that Bella was pressing closer to me and that the pressure of her hands against my shoulders was increasing. I blinked, confused for the space of one of her heartbeats before I realized she was trying to push me. Unsuccessfully.

"Bella," I whispered against her mouth, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing is _wrong_, Edward. Stop waiting for disaster, would you, please? I'm _trying_…"

_Push._

"to get you…"

_Shove._

"onto the bed," she finished in a tone that was half frustrated and half disgruntled – probably at the fact that she was using what was likely all of her strength and not budging me at all. I chuckled as she made a little growling sound in the back of her throat before looking up at me expectantly. "Just pretend to fall on the bed already, please."

I kept my arms securely around her as I flopped dramatically onto the bed, twisting mid flop so that our heads ended up on the mountain of feather pillows. "How was that," I asked her.

"Very convincing," she said with a solemn nod of her head. She was sprawled on top of me and I wondered what she was thinking. Always, the silence of her mind tormented me, but in this moment I wasn't sure I would be able to bear it. She certainly could feel the evidence of my desire pressed against her stomach, but she was showing no outward sign of it. Was she embarrassed? Disgusted? Intrigued? Impressed? My mouth twisted into a self-deprecating grimace as that last thought flew through my mind. What? Now I was wanting compliments? Ugh, this was intolerable.

She kissed my neck then while she twined our fingers together and pulled both of my hands up above my head and wrapped my hands around the frame of the headboard. She leaned her head back then and looked me in the eye, looking for something from me.

"Please," she whispered, "just…stay." I tried to nod, but I don't think I actually moved. She must have seen the consent in my face because she moved her mouth back to my neck and I leaned my head back into the pillows giving her full access. I felt her warm breath over my skin and felt yet again as if I could possible absorb her heat, her life, into my very self and live once again.

I closed my eyes and just focused on the sensation of her lips pressing increasingly open-mouthed kisses down my neck, across my chest and down the planes of my stomach. If I allowed myself to think of anything more than that I might have noticed that as she was making her way down my body, I could feel the sinfully amazing sensation of the friction of her breasts as they dragged down my body as well. For the love of all that was holy, I had to stop this before it went too far. Before I was unable to stop it at all.

Just one more moment. Just one more inch. I tried to convince myself that I could take it. That this was what she wanted, and wasn't this night all about what she wanted? Dimly, I was sardonically impressed with my ability to twist even my own logic to serve my own damnable self-interest. With my last shred of reason, I tightened my hold on the reigns of my inner monsters and locked down every muscle in my body, not even daring to breathe as I slit open my eyes enough to watch my Bella's face as she came within an inch of the part of me that was straining helplessly toward her heat.

There was no air in the room, I was sure of it, even had I wanted to draw a breath there would have been nothing to fill my lungs. My field of vision, normally able to take in my peripherally than a human could head-on, was narrowed to include only Bella's face. My other senses were attuned just as singly to her. I heard only her pulse and her tiny little gasping breaths. I smelled only her rain-soaked freesia scent overlaid with the salty tang of her own building desire. I felt only the points that made contact with her velvet skin. And I watched in a kind of slow motion as her tongue darted out to wet those torturous lips and then with growing fascination tinged with a frisson of horror as they puckered and placed one contradictorily chaste kiss on the very tip.

A gasp that morphed into a roar ripped through me as I sat up, grabbing Bella's arms and pulling her against my chest roughly – too roughly, though I did all in my power at that moment to gentle my grasp – and all but growled, "No, Bella! I- I can't take it. You are trying to kill me. No small feat, that. _Please,_ take this seriously – I have to be able to control myself and… that… won't be possible." I squeezed my eyes shut as my mind warred with my body as one tried to forget and the other strained and leapt to remember and to continue.

"Ok, Edward, ok. It's ok," she soothed me, an apology in her voice. Damn, but she shouldn't feel like she had anything for which to apologize. It was my own weakness that was at fault.

"Bella, I think this will work much better if I set the pace. This night is about your human experience and I think I can deliver on that much better if I'm in control. So, please, if you value your life – or at least my sanity – then, can you lie down?"

She bit her lip and gave one little nod, then hesitantly pushed away from me just enough to stretch out on the fluffy white coverlet of the bed. Her skin was flushed the most gorgeous shade of pink in contrast. I let the monster show through just a bit in my smile as my gaze swept from the crown of her head to the tips of her painted toes.

Now, this was what I had in mind.

**A/N: Now we're getting somewhere, yes? I hope you all enjoyed this chapter – please, tell me what you liked or didn't like. It's really difficult to walk the line between sexy and smutty. Not that I don't enjoy a good smutty story, don't get me wrong. ;) So, I'm begging here. Please, review. Even just a thumbs up or thumbs down? Because I'm getting a little paranoid when I see the numbers of people who read it and then not many reviews…**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Here it is! I think this is going to be the final chapter in this story as it brings us to the point where Ms. Meyer takes over in Breaking Dawn. Unless someone has a compelling scene to suggest or something they think was missed, then, this is it. I really hope you enjoy this last installment and that it was worth waiting for. Stephenie Meyer owns everything and I'm just borrowing them for a bit. **

_Now, this was what I had in mind._

I propped myself up on my elbows so that my face was hovering above hers while I debated internally whether I wanted to start with her lips and work my way down, or if it would be better to start with her toes and work my way up. Hell, I never could resist her mouth, and after the stunt she had pulled a moment ago I doubted I'd ever even be able to look at her lips again without getting an erection. Maybe after a few decades of nights spent with her it would be possible. Maybe. So, I brushed her long hair back off of her face and neck, spreading it like a fan over the pillows and kissed her.

Immediately I heard her heart resume its frantic pounding and I was briefly shocked that I could actually _feel_ her blood pulsing through her body where it was pressed against my own. I no longer remembered the sensation of blood pumping through my own human veins; it had been too long and the memories of my human life were too dim to retain the actual physical sensations of life. As I kissed her, I shifted my weight so that the maximum amount of physical contact was made between our two bodies and I focused my mind on that wonderful, thrumming sensation. I began to be able to discern the different intensities of her pounding pulse throughout her body. Her heart thundered, of course, so her chest and breasts pulsed most strongly, but slowly I began to feel the strength of her blood flow draw in from her extremities and center low on her body. Right at the apex of her thighs, the part that was pressed so achingly against my erection began to hammer in time with her heartbeat. I felt another growl building in my chest in primal response and tore my lips from hers so I could draw in a breath.

A mistake, that. The air was saturated with her intoxicating scent. The burn of it seared down my throat and made venom pool in my mouth, though it was oddly unconnected to thirst. I felt only hunger for her body in the most human sense.

Bella was gasping in short panting breaths through lips that looked slightly swollen and I cursed myself, frantically trying to recall if I had been too rough against her mouth.

"Edward," she whispered hoarsely. Then her hands were everywhere. They tangled in my hair, pulling my face back to her. I dodged her lips, afraid that they would be bruised already and desperately tried to retain some small, controlled portion of my brain. My mouth ended up in the hollow behind her ear and my tongue came out of its own volition to taste the skin along her neck. I slid further down her body now, anxious to once again pay homage to her perfect breasts.

I cupped her breasts in my hands, marveling at the sensation and at the fact that I was permitted to do this, and slowly circled one rosy tip with my cold tongue. Bella's back arched off the bed suddenly and thrust her breast unexpectedly into my unprepared mouth. My jaw tensed instinctively and I was just able to wrap my lips over the razor sharp teeth before they grazed her velvety skin. I moaned low in my throat as I felt her tiny hands clenching and unclenching in the hair at the nape of my neck. I shot a look up at her face to see her eyes squeezed shut and her mouth open on a gasp, her head thrown back, leaving her neck tantalizingly exposed. She was a vision of sensual surrender and I burned the sight of her into my memory.

I took a moment to strengthen the hold I had on my own control before slowly and deliberately sucking more of her indescribably soft breast into my mouth.

Bella's reaction was immediate and violent. And, of course, unexpected. The day she reacted as I expected would surely be a day to remember. She cried out incoherently at the same moment her heels dug into the mattress and she bucked her lower body against my stomach. Her knees clamped on either side of my rib cage and her arms captured my head, holding it fast to her breast. My arms flashed around her, holding her to me and she continued to arch herself into me.

_Gently! Gently!_ I screamed at myself, desperately trying to moderate the strength of my arms wrapped around her ribcage.

I pressed her back down against the bed and released her breast from my mouth immediately raining kisses down over the top of the swell of her other breast as my hand took greedy control of what my mouth had just reluctantly surrendered.

"Shhh, shhh," I murmured to her, trying to get her to relax. She made a frustrated noise as her tiny fists beat a weak tattoo against my shoulders. After a few minutes of soothing kisses, strokes and the occasional lick, however, she seemed to be back under some control. Her head was twisting back and forth slowly on the pillow as her eyes were closed fast, but her pulse was back to the steady throbbing of before rather than the frantic racing. I noticed that she seemed to be biting her lips. Not the one lip like she always did when she was nervous, but as if she was trying to clamp them together for some reason. I was puzzled over this. What did it mean? It was an aberration. I was so used to using the most minute facial expression as a guide to her thoughts that I was certain not only that this was not something she had ever done before, but also that it must be significant.

So, I began to monitor it. I noticed that every time I grazed her nipple, her teeth could clamp ruthlessly harder on the inside of her lips.

_Interesting._

A theory occurred to me and I decided to test it. Angling my head so that I could watch her face I began to swirl my tongue in large circles over her breast. I slowly worked my way closer and closer to the center and watched carefully as the pressure of her teeth increased on her lips in direct proportion to my progress.

_Oh, _very_ interesting._

I suddenly and urgently wanted, no I _needed_ to know what she was holding back. With a diabolical little half grin I deliberately paused just as I came within a hair's breadth of the flushed peak of her breast, then flicked it once with my tongue before grasping it with my firm lips and rolling it between them.

The most delicious moan escaped Bella's lips, louder and more pronounced for having been held back for so long. I felt the sensation of that moan roll over me like waves, ending its wonderful tormenting journey as it pooled low in my groin.

I vowed to myself that it would be my new mission in this world to hear that sound as much as was physically possible. I would move mountains to entice Bella to make that sound. Again and again. Immediately. Or even sooner.

I began to kiss a trail from one perfect, pink-tipped breast to the other and back again, repeating the journey over and over, slowly increasing the tempo in proportion to her speeding heart. Her moans came more easily now, that first one having broken the chains of her resistance. Finally, I heard the moans resolve into words.

"Edward, please. _Please._ I'm dying here."

"We can't have that," I grinned back at her, then changed course. Instead of continuing the same path between her breasts, I began kissing a trail from the valley between them down her flat stomach, pausing to dip my tongue into the indent of her belly button causing her to squirm and bat at my head. I pressed an apologetic, but unrepentant kiss over the offended, ticklish spot and continued on my journey.

I knew the moment she realized I wasn't turning back. Her knees instinctively tried to draw together, but as my body was conveniently lying between her legs, she was wonderfully unsuccessful in her bid for modesty.

I pressed a kiss on the inside of her thigh, then repeated the gesture on its twin. I let my lips slide slowly up until my nose pressed tenderly into the crease at the top of her thigh. My eyes closed again as I inhaled deeply, the ultra-concentrated scent of Bella's arousal swirled in my brain momentarily intoxicating me beyond rational thought.

Even the pull of Bella's blood could not compare to the way this felt. _La mia cantante_. My singer. My Bella. Nothing had ever called to me the way this did. I thought back to the conversation Bella and I had had that first day in the forest back in Forks. I had tried then to compare the lure of her blood to the lure a drug addict feels. I finally understood what an insignificant comparison that was. I longed for her the way a drowning man longs to draw breath into lungs screaming for relief. I craved her the way a man crawling though a desert craves water on his parched, cracked lips. I didn't want her, I needed her.

And I was through with waiting. I was finished with games and teasing. This was my wife. My love. My singer. My mate in every way. This was my Bella. And I was finally going to make her mine. To claim her in the most basic, most ancient way. The animal within me snarled with impatience for it. The man in me had little more in the way of coherence.

I pushed myself up on my knees and looked down at her one more time. She stilled immediately, sensing the change in my demeanor immediately. Yet, there was no fear in her face, only an intensity that may have come close to matching my own. I leaned down to softly kiss her lips and whispered, "I love you, Bella."

"I love you, Edward," she answered without hesitation the words coming out strong and sure.

I kept my eyes locked on hers as my hand slipped down in between our bodies. My fingers brushed over the curls hiding her most secret and alluring place and slid through the folds that were slick and unbearably warm. Again, I could feel her pulse pounding just underneath her skin and the vibration of it sang up my arm spreading heat to every cell of my body. I carefully and gently moved my finger up and down the length of her to determine whether she was ready for me. My finger easily slipped just a bit inside of her heat.

_Dear, sweet Lord she was so wet!_

A part of me rejoiced at this most basic physical evidence of her desire for me. This was not something that could be manufactured. She wanted me. _She_ wanted _me!_

I slid my finger out and back in a little further, trying to separate the delicate folds of skin a bit more to be absolutely sure there would be no discomfort for her when my erection replaced my finger in just a moment. The mere thought of that action being mere moments away had that part of my body growing so rock hard that it was actually painful. I thought I had grown accustomed to being painfully aroused over the past several months, but this was something entirely new.

I froze as I tried to get a handle on my out of control lust. That half second of hesitation on my part was all it took for Bella to visibly lose the tenuous hold she had on her own control. When my hand stilled, her hips thrust against me seemingly of their own volition. I felt my finger slide further into her tight passage as my palm brushed against a part of her that made her cry out.

"Edward! Oh, Edward. Now! I can't take it," she cried out in a voice that sounded like it bordered on pain. I gasped as I felt her muscles clench around my finger and knew I was just as desperate as she in that moment.

I moved my hand up to brace my weight as I shifted above her and positioned myself so that the part of me that was aching for her was pressing in against the scalding hot entrance of her body. I paused to take a deep breath and waited for her eyes to open and find mine.

"You are mine, Isabella Cullen," I all but growled at her.

"_Yes,_" she hissed back at me. I flexed my hips and in one fluid movement I was completely seated in her to the hilt.

_Heaven. _

Carlisle had always been right, of course. For God alone could have created this heaven. Why He had decided to grant me admission would remain a mystery to me for the rest of my existence, but for the moment I could only be profoundly grateful for His mercy. I vowed to spend every minute of every day trying to prove to Him, to her and to myself that I could deserve a portion of this heaven. I would pay any price He demanded of me.

I opened my eyes to look down at my angel's face, hardly knowing what to expect. I had spent countless nights worrying about the pain this act might bring to her. Both the pain that I might inflict upon her with my vampire strength and also the pain that was to be expected from any human woman on this occasion. I couldn't detect any note of pain in her face, however. There was just a look of brief astonishment, as if until that very moment she hadn't been sure that I would follow through on my part of our bargain. Then, slowly a look of wonder broke like dawn across her perfect face. I had never seen anything so moving. Or so unutterably arousing.

I slowly began to move within her and I rejoiced to see the look of wonder increase. I would worship this woman until the end of time and exert myself in every way to make sure I got to see that look on her face every single day of forever.

I found a rhythm then that seemed as natural as breathing would feel to a human. Less than a minute had passed before Bella began to move with me. Together we rode the wave of sensations that threatened with each thrust to pull me under into the oblivion of ecstasy. I furrowed my brows in intense concentration, knowing that I had to maintain my focus now more than ever. I could not afford to lose myself to this effortless tempo and let instinct take over as I wished. I knew that it would take less than a second of inattention for me to accidentally kill her.

Bella started to make the most unbelievable little noises in the back of her throat. They were getting almost imperceptibly louder each time our bodies reached for each other. I felt her feet slide up the back of my thigh and back down again as if she couldn't decide where to put them. My hand flashed out to catch her behind one knee and I hooked her leg up over my hip and anchored it there. Her thigh felt so small in my hand and I inadvertently gripped it harder as the new angle this position provided registered with me. I groaned and my head fell forward to rest against her neck as my pace quickened almost against my will. My hand slid even further up her thigh until I realized I was cupping one perfect globe of her bottom. I held her against me as I thrust harder and faster now.

I could feel the precipice barreling down on me and I could have more easily stopped a speeding freight train than I could have slowed my pace one degree. I felt desperate and more than a little panicky as I realized I was probably holding her too tightly and using her too roughly, but I couldn't stop now. I could no longer even feel my arms or legs, they felt strangely detached from the rest of my body as I continued to move ever faster and harder. I was terrified that I was going to hurt her, that I was already hurting her but I felt powerless to do anything about it.

"Bella," I called out, the cry both a question and an apology.

"Edward," came her reply, "yes!"

I dared to hope that it was an answer to my unspoken pleading and I groaned loudly at the sound of my name on her lips.

And then, Bella raked her teeth along the marble hard skin of my neck. My head reared back in shock and the fierce look in her eye was matched by her voice as she arched her head back and screamed.

Bella had…she had _bitten_ me! The shock of it would have been comical in any circumstance other than this one.

I felt her muscles contract around me then and the intensity of the sensation coupled with the sight of her pulse throbbing right beneath the skin of her neck, stretched out a mere inch from my teeth combined to push me right over the edge.

I shattered into a million tiny pieces and the overpowering instinct I felt to sink my teeth into the butter soft sinews of her neck crashed over me like a waterfall. I bit the pillow her head was on as I felt wave after wave of ecstasy pulse through me. It wasn't anywhere near as satisfying as she would have been, but it was just enough to keep me sane. I mangled every pillow within reach until finally, finally I fell back to earth. When I landed, I was a new man. I collapsed on top of Bella, weak with relief when I could hear her heart thudding in my ears and feel her pulse still singing through her veins.

I rolled off of her, worried that I might be crushing her with my weight and pulled her on top of me. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed sweet kisses along my cheek and jaw, then dropped her head on my shoulder and continued kissing my chest in a slow, contented way.

I felt her cheek scrunch up in a smile. "Do you always have to be good at everything? This was the one thing that we had the same amount of practice in," she murmured, already half asleep.

"Mmmm," I all but purred back, "are you _complaining_, Mrs. Cullen?" She snorted sleepily.

"No," she said around an enormous yawn. "I don't suppose I am." I laughed softly to myself, so giddy with relief over not having hurt her that the little exchange seemed inordinately funny to me.

"Sleep, my love, it will be morning soon." I began to hum her lullaby, but she was deeply asleep before I managed two bars. I gently lifted her hand from my chest to place a kiss on her palm and a shaft of moonlight glanced over her arm.

I froze, frowning as I stared at the red mark that was clearly visible. I felt ice shiver down my spine as realization crashed into my mind. I lifted my head slowly and looked more closely at her body draped over mine in the semi-darkness. The darkness could not hide the truth from my vampire's eyes. I watched in growing horror as bruise after bruise slowly blossomed on her formerly perfect alabaster skin.

As dawn broke and chased away the covering dark of night, disgust crept insidiously and relentlessly into the room with it, chasing away every shred of joy, every scrap of happiness.

God was to exact a price for heaven after all. And it was not even one that I was to be permitted to pay. Once again, Bella would be the one to pay for my mistakes. I pressed my arm over my eyes to block the sight of her blemished body and waited in agony for the moment when she would awake and realize she had married and given herself to a monster.

**A/N There it is, folks. You know the rest. I would really appreciate hearing what you thought of the conclusion and the story as a whole. Also, I'd like to hear suggestions of other stories or missing scenes you'd like to see. I'm a canon girl at heart, so anything in the original books that you'd like to see explored more could be of interest. Anyway, that's all – pretty please let me know your thoughts!**


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